


Like an open wound

by loveamongstars



Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Comfort/Angst, Gen, Nightmares, collapsed building
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:54:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,293
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26816161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/loveamongstars/pseuds/loveamongstars
Summary: Whumtober Prompt 4. Running out of time [Collapsed Building]
Series: Whumptober 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1953688
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Like an open wound

**Prompt: Running out of time [Collapsed Building]**

Was it this warm the last time? The air was stale, every breath felt akin to fire as dust got into his lungs, if it was only dust. He hoped it was only dust. With the warmth, it could also be smoke. Smoke hurt like a bitch in the lungs, he knew that. That would not be his first rodeo breathing in smoke, and hopefully not his last. Unless they would be here too long. They. Danno was with him!

Steve looked around, trying to find a sign of where he was? That was much more important than how his lungs hurt. He shifted in the limited space he had, carefully to not disrupt the debris around him. He couldn’t have the building collapse further and endanger Danny. 

“Danny?” Steve called out, hoping for any sign. Danny had not been far from him. He shouldn’t be too far now. He could be under any amount of rubble right around him. He stayed absolutely silent for just a single little sound from his best friend. Nothing. The only thing he could hear was water drip, probably from a pipe that was destroyed in the explosion. He wondered if the rest of his team had made it out in time. They had made up the rear upon evacuation and hadn’t made it in time. Steve coughed, his lungs no longer being able to ignore what his mind tried so hard to ignore: Whatever he was breathing in, it was not good news. It didn’t matter right now, though. Not finding Danny was much worse news. Steve started to crawl forward slowly. With a hiss he pulled his hand back, finding it bloody, from where he managed to push it into a bit of steel. He pushed on regardless. Crawling forward carefully he looked out for signs of Danny in this darkness. 

“Danny, come on, give me a sign, anything.” Anything at all. He could work with it, he would work with it, and if he had to completely shred his hands to pull the debris from him. Stomach clenching with dread he pushed forward. Whatever injuries Danny sustained, he could deal with it. He could help him. He could keep him alive as long as it took.

His hand graced something that felt like leather and he looked down. A shoe. The kind of shoe Danny wore. Danny! Maybe he could just not reply because he was unconscious. He let out a small laugh, overjoyed at having a clue where Danny was. He began working on clearing the rubble away, to get to him as fast as he could. Any second could count. He ignored how much his hands were hurting after a while, especially when he caught the first glance of blonde hair shaded grey by the dust.

“Almost there, Danny,” he whispered breathlessly. He almost got him. Just a little more. Finally, he had removed the rubble from Danny's face. Blue-green eyes were looking up at him. Steve smiled. 

“There you are, buddy.” No reaction. 

“Buddy?” Steve placed his hand on Danny’s stubbled cheek. 

“Danny?” Again no reaction. Danny didn’t even blink. Steve felt his eyes burn as. His breathing became heavier, the pain in his lungs more pronounced to him. Something seemed to squeeze his heart painfully like it wanted to crush it. A first tear rolled down his cheek.

“No. Please…no.” His bloody hand shook as he pressed two fingers into Danny’s neck. He felt nothing, not the little beat he had been hoping for, nothing. He readjusted them, not trusting himself, readjusted again, still nothing. “Please. Come on.” Steve moved, scrambling to get Danny’s wrist free, to feel for a pulse there.

Nothing. 

Steve sat back, staring at his friend, shaking. His shakes intensified just before a scream tore from him, a painful scream, that carried outside what he felt inside like he was torn apart like a giant hole was torn into him, an open wound he could never hope to heal. His vision blurred as he started to sob. This was the one thing he knew he could not recover from. The one thing he knew he could never deal with, never heal from, this wound would forever hurt, forever fester, rotting him from inside. 

Steve reached for Danny, pulling him up into his arms, to hold onto him one more time. He remembered the last words he said to him ‘hurry up’, while they were not bad, given the situation, he wished he could have said more. He wished he could have acknowledged his importance to him once more. Instead, he held onto him, granting himself this last touch.

“I should have gone first, Danno,” Steve whispered against his friend's lifeless form in his arms. And he meant it. “You have Grace and Charlie. I should have gone first.” Danno would have dealt with his death easier. He had his kids, to heal the wound, to stitch part of him together again. He would have seen them grow and every year his wound would heal a little more. Steve didn’t. He had no hope of time stitching up a single bit of this wound. If he could trade his life then and there he would. Danno shouldn have more time. “Danno…” Steve stopped talking as he heard rumbling. He looked up just in time to see their little pocket in the collapsed building come down…

Steve gasped when he woke up. Where was he? He looked around, half expecting a hospital, but…it was his room, at home. Why was he back home? Slowly the former Navy SEAL sat up, reaching a hand up to his eyes, wiping the tears off that he hadn’t even realized were there. In the dark, he only realized now that he was shaking. Could it be…? Could this whole ordeal have been nothing more than a terrible nightmare? Slowly he became aware of the sounds around him. A car drove down Kalaniana’ole Highway, the waves at the back of the house, the wind in the trees next to the window, the TV being on downstairs. The TV was on. Right, because Danno lived with him right now. Steve didn’t bother putting anything on as he swung his legs out of bed and left the bedroom.

From the top of the stairs, he could see a documentary about Hawaii was on, a clear indicator that Danno was very much asleep. Eddie lay in front of the TV, not asleep, but lazily gazing up there. Danny lay on the couch, he was not asleep either, but he could see that he had been. He looked up at him curiously, evidently having been woken by Steve leaving his bedroom - or maybe his gasp. With a sigh, he admitted to himself that he could not just turn back without a word and go to back to bed. 

He decided to go downstairs instead and go to the kitchen. By the time he came back with a glass of water, Danny was sitting up on the couch, a small space evidently empty for him. Steve took it and sat down there. Danny wordlessly gave him the remote as he pulled the blanket over Steve’s legs, too. 

“What are we watching,” Steve asked. Danny sighed.

“I don’t know, but you tell my boss why I am late tomorrow.” 

“That can be arranged,” Steve chuckled as he simply turned the volume on the documentary up a little, to enjoy the beauty of their home and settle his mind. He lifted his arm and wrapped it around Danny, ignoring the way the smaller man looked up at him, eyes full of worry. That was a conversation they could have another day.


End file.
